Of Masks and Shinobi
by quote intangible
Summary: The first time Kakashi smelled flowers, he turned an alarming shade of green before puking all over Sakumo's bare toes. Pre-series. One shot.


**Warnings: **Mentions of breast feeding (if you can even count that as a warning), a tiny bit of violence (nothing you wouldn't see in the anime), and swearing (mostly from me)

**AN: **I took some liberties with Kakashi's past, as clearly the anime or the creator of Naruto, fucked up somewhere. The author originally said Kakashi became a genin at 5 and then a chunin at 6, but in the anime it shows Kakashi, on Minato's team, with Rin and Obito, becoming a chunin at what looks like 10 years of age. I am going to ignore this and go with the data book that says Kakashi become a genin at 5. I see two possible scenarios, either Kakashi was on a genin team before Rin and Obito, or both Rin and Obito are approximately 4 years older than Kakashi. Judging by the fact that Rin has a massive crush on Kakashi, and the fact that Obito didn't seem to know that Kakashi's father killed himself in the Kakashi gaiden arc until Minato told him, I am going to assume that Kakashi was on a team prior to being placed on Minato's team. It's not a big part of the story, but continuity errors like this bug the shit out of me.

* * *

"He won't eat," Imari said, voice dripping with desperation as she held their son to her chest, attempting to breast feed the baby. Kakashi screamed and cried so hard, Sakumo worried the baby might hurt itself. "He was fine yesterday! I don't know what changed. Tsunade swears there's nothing wrong with him."

Imari thrust the baby into his arms and covered herself up. The tiny baby quieted for a moment, then wrinkled up his pink little face and let out a wail so loud he bet the villagers in Sand heard it. "I don't know what to do," she admitted, tears of desperation starting to run down her face. "Mothers' are supposed to know what to do. And I don't what to do." She hugged herself, bright grey eyes the same color as Kakashi's staring pleadingly at him. "What do I do?"

Sakumo did not know. He'd only been home from his week- long mission for barely a minute. "Calm down," he said, placing Kakashi in his crib. The baby fell silent the second he was set down, an occasional snuffle the only remnant of his previous distress. "Tell me what happened from the beginning."

His wife threw herself into his arms. "Kakashi was fine yesterday!" Imari insisted, burying her face into Sakumo's chest. "But today he just would not stop crying and he refuses to eat. I took him to the hospital, but Tsunade looked him over herself and said he was fine. What's wrong with him?"

Sakumo rubbed her back. If Tsunade did not know, how was he supposed to know what was wrong with the baby? He held his wife in his arms, trying to think of a solution, when the strong smell of something spicy assaulted his sensitive nose. The horrid stench was coming from his wife. "What is that smell?" he nearly gagged, barely refraining from taking a step back from his wife. The scent was overpowering for someone with a nose like him.

"Perfume. I'm not on active duty anymore, so I thought I'd give it a try. Why?" She pulled back long enough to look up at him through her long eyelashes.

"It's quite, uh, strong," he decided upon, trying not to hurt her feelings, suddenly understanding the problem. "Go wash it off and then try feeding the baby again."

Imari was confused, but did as Sakumo suggested. This time when she picked up the baby, Kakashi did not cry and eagerly suckled from the offered breast.

Imari smiled fondly down at the content baby in her arms. "He's got your nose," she said in understanding.

Sakumo nodded. "We'll just have to be more careful about what kind of scents we bring into the house from now on.

"Well you better go shower then. You're smelling a bit ripe," she teased, her previous distress long gone. He hit the shower, glad he could finally relax after his mission and just a tiny bit proud that his child was already starting to turn out just like him.

* * *

No mater how careful they were, Kakashi's heightened sense of smell gradually became an increasing problem as the boy aged. It was also quite apparent he had a genius on his hands.

"He smells like buggers," the two-year-old pouted, steadfastly refusing to move any closer to the other toddler. The recent loss of Imari was like a fresh, poisoned senbon piercing the heart. He worried about Kakashi. What time the two-year didn't spend with his father, the hokage, Jairya, and his baby sitter while Sakumo was on missions, the boy spent alone. Kakashi had no friends and expressed no desire to make friends. He understood Kakashi's reluctance. The budding genius was already reading, and writing and showing extraordinary signs of chakra control and agility that no two-year-old should posses while other kids his age were barely out of diapers. It was unnerving, and also unhealthy, so he set up a play date with one of his old teammate's kids, a boy named Teo.

"Go play," Sakumo insisted and pushed his son toward the other child. While Kakashi could hold an entire conversation with an adult, it was almost endearing, and a little bit heartbreaking, how awkward Kakashi was around someone his own age. He decided to summon Bisuke and Guruko to break the ice, as those two nindogs were the most likely to be easy going and enjoy playing with the toddlers. An uneasy feeling in his stomach told him maybe this wasn't the best of ideas, but Sakumo ignored it. Kakashi needed friends.

He chatted with his old teammate amicably, but never took his eyes off the two children. It did not look like Kakashi was having fun, but merely humoring the toddler for his father's sake. That was fine too, Sakumo decided, until Teo found a toad.

Teo picked the toad up and in his excitement practically shoved the small, smelly creature into Kakashi's face. His son recoiled, clasping both hands over his nose a strangled gagging noise emitting from his throat. Kakashi threw himself away from the toad so quickly, he didn't have time to react to the rock under his feet and tripped, hitting the ground hard with a startled cry.

Sensing danger, the two dogs reacted immediately to protect their pack member. Guruko grabbed the back of Kakashi's shirt and carried the toddler away from danger. Bisuke lunged at Teo.

"Bisuke, don't!" he commanded already running towards the dog, but it was too late. The nin dog grabbed the toad from started boy, crushed it in his powerful jaws and then hurled the toad back into the lake. He grabbed Bisuke before the dog could turn and growl at the little boy and quickly sent both of the dogs back to their dimension in a cloud of smoke.

There was a brief moment of utter silence. Then Teo opened his mouth and let out an ear shattering wail, running to his father with tears in his eyes.

"Let's not try this again," Teo's father said as he comforted the distraught child. Sakumo had a brief moment to apologize before they were gone.

"What's his problem? I'm the one that had that foul smelling filthy creature shoved in my face," Kakashi whined.

"Bisuke scared him, Kakashi," he tried to explain to his son.

"Why? Bisuke did not hurt him," Kakashi pondered. "He won't make a very good shinobi if he's scared of a dog. There are things far more terrifying out there."

_How would you know? _was on the tip of his tongue, but Kakashi wasn't stupid. He may not know everything that was out there, but he knew enough to know there were horrors out there that snatched the important people in your life and snuffed out their fire and there was nothing you could do about it. "He's only two, Kakashi," he said as if that would somehow make a difference.

"I'm only two."

"I know, but your," _different_, he thought, _and not in a good way_, "special."

The boy nodded his head gravely at his father's words. Sakumo was proud of his son and amazed at his intelligence that rivaled genin five times his age. One day, probably soon, the boy would make a fine shinobi whose name would be feared throughout the lands.

But sometimes Sakumo wished, Kakashi could just be a kid.

* * *

The first time Kakashi smelled flowers, he turned an alarming shade of green before puking all over Sakumo's bare toes.

"We're getting flowers," Sakumo told his three year old son, who wrinkled up his nose in disgust the minute they walked into the store and demanded to know why they were in such a horrible place. "For your mother's grave."

The child made no further protest to being in the store, but it was quite clear Kakashi did not want to be there. He stood stiffly by the front door and refused to move further into the tiny shop. The smell was quite unpleasant for even his heightened sense of smell. He learned over the years, ever since that first incident when Kakashi was a baby, that the boy was quite sensitive to the smells around him, even more so than his father, but they were only going to be there for a few minutes. The boy would be fine.

Sakumo was paying for the lilies for his wife's grave, when he heard a pot shatter against the floor. A young girl a few years older than Kakashi with long blonde hair looked sheepishly at the broken pot and the little boy now completely covered in dirt and pollen. Kakashi froze.

"Are, are you okay?" the little girl asked staring at the still boy. Sakumo quickly rushed over to the scene, just in time to see the color drain from Kakashi's face. The smell of the pollen must have overloaded his sensitive sense of smell and before Sakumo could do anything, the boy bent over and puked all over the floor and Sakumo's bare toes.

Kakashi's knees buckled. He caught the boy and hurried him out of the store. A sickening wheeze rattled in his son's chest as the boy attempted to take a deep breath of fresh air, only to end up coughing.

"Calm down," he rubbed the child's back. If Kakashi kept coughing like this, he was going to puke again. Sure enough, the coughing gave way to retching as the child spit up bile on the street.

"Father," the boy wheezed. "I can't breathe." In a panic, Sakumo struggled to get the boy out of his pollen covered shirt, hoping to alleviate his symptoms. It made no difference as, he noted with horror, Kakashi's lips turned blue. People were starting to gather, staring at the father and son, including the now terrified little girl who broke the pot. He gathered the boy in his arms and was gone in a swirl of leaves.

Hours later, Sakumo found himself sitting next to Kakashi's hospital bed, waiting for any tiny movement that would indicate his son was waking up. A surgical mask was placed over Kakashi's face to block any other odors from reaching his overly stimulated senses. There was an oxygen tube snaking out from underneath the mask.

"We knew this might happen," Tsunade said from the door to the private hospital room. She was the one who took the child from the shaken father when he first popped into existence in the emergency room. She had taken one look at the boy in her arms, punched Sakumo in the gut, an "I told you so," rolling off her lips, before disappearing into a room. Sakumo wasn't sure if Tsunade treated everyone like this, or if him, Jairya, and a few of sensei's other students were special. "His sense of smell is better than your yours. The Inuzuka clan would be jealous if they knew how good he was."

"I know," he said remembering the conversation he shared with her after Imari told the medical nin about Kakashi refusing to breastfeed. She literally beat it into his head that they had to be careful with the child and risk exposing him to strong smells. Sakumo ignored Tsunade then. He dealt with it his whole life and never puked his guts because someone sprayed pollen over him. "What am I supposed to do," the father huffed. "Keep him locked in the house for the rest of his life?"

"That's not a bad idea." Sakumo glared at her. "I'm kidding. Jeez lighten up."

She walked further into the room and rested a hand on the boy's forehead. Kakashi turned slightly into the touch, mumbling under the mask. "I might have an idea," she told the worried father. "Give me a few days to come up with something. In the meantime, stay away from the market, dusty streets, the forest after it rains, any fields, and for God's sake, do not take him back to the flower shop."

"Yes, Ma'am.

"Watch it, Sakumo. Or you'll be in a bed next to your son." He was _pretty_ sure she was going joking. Okay, maybe he was 10% sure she was just kidding.

* * *

Jairya never knocked. The man just showed up when and where he felt like it. In this case, it was standing over Sakumo's bed just before sunrise. Even in his sleep, he reacted to the chakra, grabbing his blade and swiping at the intruder before he was fully awake.

Loud, deep laughter roused Sakumo completely from his sleep. "Seriously, sensei," he grumbled as the man continued to laugh at him.

"I hear the kid has a little bit of a problem," Jairya said.

"You could call it that," Sakumo huffed as he rubbed a hand over his face. Sakuma hadn't let his kid leave the house since the accident, and for a genius three year-old, it was torture, for both of them.

"Here," his sensei said, throwing a piece of black fabric at him. "Tsunade said this should help."

He held the tiny piece of fabric up, inspecting what he realized was a shirt with a mask attached. "You want my child to wear a mask? He's only 3!"

"Would you rather he puked every time he smelled flowers."

"Uh…"

"The boy turned blue."

"Tsuande said that's only because he was coughing so hard!" he argued.

"Just give it to the kid," Jairya said. "If it works, Tsunade says she'll send over more of them."

He looked at the kind smile of his sensei and then back down at the mask. "I don't want people thinkin he's hiding something."

"But he is." Sakumo hated how true that was.

Jairya disappeared, just as he appeared, without notice, but after demanding Sakumo make him breakfast.

* * *

Just as Sakumo expected, Kakashi gave him a skeptical look as he handed the boy the mask. "Tsunade-sama says it'll help with your problem."

Surprisingly that was all it took to get the kid to try it. It must've been a bigger problem than he knew, or more likely a bigger problem than the too smart toddler had let on, if the child was so eager to try the mask.

The mask fit Kakashi perfectly. Sakumo hated how it made the kid look older than his 3 years of age, that it hid the mischievous curve of his lips and muted the bright curiosity that usually shone on his small face. Instead he looked like a… a… _a shinobi, _a small voice in his mind provided. Kakashi was far too young to look like that.

His boy breathed in deeply, his tiny chest expanding as he filled his lungs. "Can we go try it out, at the market?" the boy asked. _At least his voice still sounds like a child,_ he thought and forced a smile on his face as he nodded at his son.

Kakashi seemed to come alive at the market. Usually the boy stayed close to him, and he realized with guilt it was probably because of all the smells assaulting his nose had bothered the child far more than Sakumo ever knew.

The mask brought his son confidence as he rushed up to various stores and eagerly sniffed what they had to offer. They garnered a few strange looks, but this was a shinobi village after all. People cared far less than Sakumo thought. So he let the kid explore and tried not to think about it too much.

"We never did get those flowers for mother," the boy said coming to a stop at the flower shop and looking at it with what might have been anxiety or maybe, determination. It was hard to tell.

"Do you want to go in?" he asked the kid, setting a hand on the boy's shoulder.

"Yeah."

Nothing changed in the shop since the last time they were there, and he doesn't know why he thought it should. There were flowers in every corner and the overwhelming stench of pollen in the air forced Sakumo to hold back a sneeze.

Kakashi took a deep breath and then turned two bright eyes up to him. "I can breathe," the child exclaimed and ran further into the store. "It smells…nice." Kakashi sniffed an arrangement of orange and white flowers, almost burying his face in the petals, but being careful not to touch.

"Sakumo," the young woman behind the counter called to him. "You forgot your flowers in all the excitement. Let me get you some more."

Sakumo tried to smile back at the woman, really he did, but he couldn't force his lips to move. Instead, he caught site of his son standing next to the little girl from the incident.

"Sorry I made you puke," the little girl said handing a flower to Kakashi. "It doesn't smell, so it won't make you sick.

"It's okay, I've got this now," Kakashi said, pointing to the fabric that covered his face. He took the flower and sniffed it anyways, probably smelling dirt, or leaves, or water through the mask even when the little girl could smell nothing.

The little girl looked quite pleased with herself, and Kakashi, he assumed, was happy judging by the curve of his eyes.

"Here are your flowers," the woman at the counter said. He tore his eyes away from his son and took the lilies.

"Come, Kakashi, we're leaving."

* * *

The village hated Sakumo, and he didn't know why. He brought home brothers and fathers, sisters and mothers when the village ordered them to die. How did that make him a villain?

He watched his 8 year old son get ready to meet his new team. His original genin team and sensei, after 3 years together, didn't want to work with him anymore, not after what Sakumo had done. The boy was reassigned to Minato's team, a man whose name was whispered through town much like Sakumo's once was.

Minato would take of Kakashi now. That at the very least, Sakumo knew to be true.

Bitter eyes that looked like they'd seen 100 years instead of a measly 8, stared at him over the mask. The bitterness was somehow better than the blank emotionless gaze his son adopted after coming home from his last mission, weapons stained with the blood of another. On his 8th birthday, the child killed for the first time, an Iwa shinobi more than three times his age. Kakashi swallowed his pain and hid it behind the thin piece of fabric that now never left his face, even in the comfort of his own home. He liked to think that under that ghastly piece of black fabric, Kakshi still looked like the kid he was.

Sakumo knew he didn't. He also knew he had a large part to play in that.

"Go, I'll be fine," he answered the unasked question in the angry eyes and gave his son a gentle push out the door. The child hesitated. He looked back just once before nodding and heading out.

Today Sakumo was going to die and he did not want his son to see it. Jairya was supposed to come over later, find his body before his son did, clean up the mess before the kid came home. Even if Jairya spent hours cleaning, he knew it would never be enough to mask the smell of blood from his son's strong nose. Hopefully Jairya wouldn't be late this one time. Who was he to know Jairya never came at all.

He decided against the white chakra blade he was so renowned for. He wanted to give it to the kid. It didn't need his father's blood on it. He took a kunai instead, sliced through his stomach and waited to die.

His last final thought before he would spend his years in limbo waiting to see his son again was, _I hope the kid…Kakashi… learns to live without the mask._


End file.
